Conservative crime bill no help to victims: Advocates

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OTTAWA — The Conservative government's omnibus crime legislation, to be introduced this fall, may put too much focus on offenders, leaving victims in the dark, crime victims advocates say.

The legislation, likely to be sweeping in scale and scope, will be bundled into omnibus bills that represent a larger group of about a dozen bills the government was unable to pass in the previous minority Parliament. The Tories have promised to pass the bundled legislation within 100 sitting days of the majority Parliament, which sat for just a few weeks in June.

Advocates for victims of crime are concerned that the bill — expected to dramatically expand mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug crimes, harshen sentencing for certain sexual offences against children and affect the privacy of young offenders — puts more weight on punishment than prevention, and won't go far enough to help victims.

The government has said that harsher sentencing will help victims of crime by ensuring offenders stay off the streets and behind bars.

But the answer isn't that simple, said Sue O'Sullivan, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime.

"It's not an 'either/or,' " she said. "It's a balance. And what's missing is that attention to victims of crime. The legs of the stool aren't equal right now."

O'Sullivan is the second ombudsman in the office, which Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government created in 2007.

When it was launched it was given a mandate to help victims of crime — individually and collectively — access federal programs, address their complaints about federal programs and increase awareness among criminal justice policy-makers of the needs and concerns of victims.

Funding for the office has been steady — it continues to receive an approximately $1.5-million annual budget, the same as when it was launched.

But because the office has no legislative power, it has to go through the Justice Department to get important reports tabled or to make funding requests.

The office's first ombudsman, Steve Sullivan, said the government's attitude toward the office suggests it's more interested in talking about creating the office than in actually hearing what the office has to say.

For example, the minister has yet to make public three annual reports prepared under Sullivan, keeping Canadians in the dark on details of the office's spending and progress.

Still, the government has pumped millions of dollars into programs for victims of crimes.

In 2007, the Conservatives committed $13 million per year for four years through the Federal Victim Strategy, a package of programs and services that included the creation of the ombudsman's office.

The government renewed funding for the strategy and the ombudsman's office in the 2011 budget.

But the money being funnelled into the government's crime agenda is off-balance, leaning steeply toward offender-management instead of victim-management, Sullivan said.

To help balance the funding, Sullivan, in his new role as executive director of Ottawa Victims Services, submitted three recommendations for the 2012 pre-budget consultations, a process through which Canadians can present funding ideas for the minister of finance to consider while developing next year's budget.

In his submission, Sullivan commended the government's October 2010 decision to establish a $5-million, five-year fund to help support the growth of Child Advocacy Centres — something the ombudsman's office had asked for a year prior.

But the day before the justice minister announced funding for those centres, the public safety minister had announced $150 million in prison spending.

Sullivan also noted the government had been idling on a commitment it made in the 2010 Throne Speech, to make victim fines surcharges necessary.

The current ombudsman said she has been pushing the minister to table that legislation, which would see fines imposed on convicted offenders. Those funds would be distributed among the provinces and territories to subsidize victims services.

"We've had numerous meetings with the minister on this issue," O'Sullivan said. "We really feel that surcharge needs to be mandatory so we can get more money to the provinces and territories, which are responsible for the actual delivery of services."

The government's message was repeated by the associate minister of national defence, Julian Fantino, earlier this month while in Windsor, Ont.

"Our government has a strong mandate from Canadians to continue our work strengthening the safety of our families and communities," he said, then added that the government is delivering justice for victims by ensuring serious criminals serve sentences that reflect the severity of their crimes.

To challenge that point, Sullivan offered the scenario of an adolescent who was abused as a child.

"That child might end up living on the street, or suffering psychologically from the abuse," he said. "At that point, they don't care how long 'John' is behind bars. They need services to help them."

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